Former antiquarian bookseller Lovett (The Bookman's Tale; First Impressions) here introduces a reformed Ebenezer Scrooge so full of Christmas spirit even in broiling July that he's making people as crabby as his old self. Then Jacob Marley needs help so that he can find peace at last, and Scrooge enlists his old friends, the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future, to make the spirit of Christmas come alive again.

Lovett (First Impressions) has written a delightful sequel to Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol. Twenty years after Scrooge's infamous change of heart, he can be found relentlessly spreading holiday cheer and giving away his money throughout London even on a sweltering summer day. When the ghost of his old friend Jacob Marley reappears and despairs of ever sloughing off the chains he's forced to carry around, Scrooge concocts a plan to lighten his friend's load. He enlists the spirits who visited him long ago to call on his creditors, his nephew, and Bob Cratchit, now his business partner, and inspire them to follow in his now generous footsteps. VERDICT Told in the style of Dickens with a sly wit, this is an excellent companion to the original Christmas classic. [See Prepub Alert, 4/6/15.]